Last night was the 32nd time this season that the Rays had either 0 hits or 1 hit through four innings. And considering this team’s history with no-hitters, that just seems like the Rays being the Rays. But it might surprised you know that things aren’t as bad as you think. In fact, the Rays have a much harder time getting hits later in games.
Here’s a look at the team batting average and runs scored by innings this year. And while there is expected to be some drop-off later in games as teams utilize hard-throwing relievers and play match-ups, the Rays’ are fairly consistent in the early innings. The only real outlier is the first inning. And we can thank Joe Maddon for keeping Carlos Pena in the 2-hole 51 times for that…
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Good work there. 6th inning — when some good starters tire or bad relievers make there appearance, is where it all happens.
Hard to believe they’ve only scored 38 runs in the 8th inning all year long. Brutal.
You can probably cut those late inning runs by 50% after the Rays get behind by 2 runs or more, and when they get ahead by 4/5 runs hits and HRs pile on.. thus those 12 run games inflating later innings
Strange they score more in the 2nd than in the 1st, I wonder how much of that is attributable to Pena batting 2nd for those 51 games?
Joe Maddon’s lineup has had a lot to do with it, including Pena. I wrote about this back in July, but for whatever reasons, Maddon has gotten more production out of the bottom of the order this year.
Joe Maddon Has Not Done A Good Job Filling Out His Lineup Cards This Season
Maybe Maddon has just been very unlucky. Or maybe he has been too stubborn with guys like Pena. And injuries hurt also.
There were points in this season where filling out the lineup card was an impossible task. It was really hopeless. Remember AJ tearing it up in the 9 spot then tanking at leadoff. I’m not blaming him specifically but early in the year with all the injuries the cupboard was bare. Everyone failed in the leadoff spot and BJ was in one of his slumps.
Its hard to make a tasty soup if your ingrediants are limited to bathwater, a turnip and a sucrets. I wouldn’t blame the cook for that.
EJ
yes EJ
A good cook can take what he has in the cupboard and make a very edible soup..a bad cook overcooks/undercooks everything..and blames his supplies
Thats why we are lucky to have some of the best cooks in MLB in our dugout and front office, you are correct.